PEPSICO on Thursday charged its former partners in a failed South African bottling venture with trying to blame Pepsi for the failure, and rejected their claims that Pepsi is liable for the loss. In a complaint filed in United States District Court in New York, Pepsi said its international subsidiaries, headquartered in Richmond, England, lost $60-million in the venture, New Age Beverages Limited, which was formed in 1994 to bottle and sell Pepsi soft drinks in South Africa. Despite the fact that Pepsi was a minority partner in the deal, it alleges that the defendants – the venture’s controlling holders, Savant Group Incorporated of Santa Monica, California and Savant principals – have tried to make Pepsi the scapegoat for the losses and threatened to hold it financially liable.